Get Rid of the Penny

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The Motley Fool

Business, Investing

4.3 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2020

⏱️ 3 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A single penny costs more than two cents to make, which means the U.S. government loses roughly $90 million a year on its production. Stephen Dubner, co-author of the bestselling "Freakonomics" books and host of “Freakonomics Radio”, makes the case for getting rid of the penny altogether. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	With the monthly full money extra, I'm Chris Hill.
0:09.7	Just a few months ago, the Federal Reserve weighed in on a specific economic ripple effect
0:14.6	of COVID-19, namely a national shortage of coins.
0:19.8	The coins haven't disappeared.
0:21.3	They're just not being circulated for obvious reasons.
0:24.4	And more local businesses are asking more people to use digital payments whenever they
0:29.3	can.
0:31.2	Situation reminded me of a conversation I had years ago with Stephen Dubner, host of
0:35.5	Freakonomics Radio, and one half of the team that has written several best-selling
0:40.2	Freakonomics books.
0:42.8	He also hates the penny.
0:44.9	So much so that if it were up to him, the penny would be gone in a heartbeat.
0:50.2	If I get the magic wand, I will definitely eliminate the penny, but only if I have like
0:53.3	20 wishes and that's number 20, all right?
0:55.3	So I know I sound like an anti-penny zealot, and I am, but only because I don't even know
1:01.9	how it got started, Chris.
1:03.9	I think I just casually wrote about throwing away pennies when I get the change, because
1:09.6	who on earth, the penny is just a ridiculous thing.
1:13.0	Inflation has rendered it literally almost valueless, plus switch.
1:17.0	We're paying taxes to our government to make the penny, which costs a lot more than a penny
1:21.4	to make.
1:23.0	And when you look at who are the biggest defenders of the penny, one of the biggest organizations
	...

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